Wednesday, March 26, 2014

Research in Wonderland

I've started to do some research about the general topic of my thesis--language in relation to thought. Professor Burton pointed out the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis to me in a comment on a post from a little while ago, so I decided to do a bit of additional research on the theory itself. I found a few articles about the theory and its relevance today, as well as, to some extent, its use in literature, so I think that will be really helpful.

Working thesis: Although Anthem and Through the Looking Glass vary greatly in terms of genre and subject matter, both novels feature the use of language itself as a means of controlling the characters therein.

Full text of one
of the primary texts that I am analyzing for this paper. Includes “Alice’s
Adventures in Wonderland” as well as several critical essays which may or may
not be helpful for my argument.

Imai,
Matsumi. “Rethinking the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis: Role of Language in Shaping

Full text of one
of the primary texts that I am analyzing for this paper. Dystopian novel that
emphasizes, in part, the power of language to control thoughts, and thereby
people, and thereby a civilization.

Robins,
Robert Henry. “The current relevance of the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis.” Communication

and
Cognition, 6.2 (1973): 37-44. Print.

Another article
explaining the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis (the relation between language and
thought) and its relevance today. Could be very useful in supporting my thesis
about this relationship.

Next, I plan to investigate the novels themselves a little more specifically, particularly in terms of the language if I can find any sources that focus on language use within these novels.